A Perfect Heart — Keith Malcomson

The Lord Searches for a Perfect Heart

I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 16, 9. We're continuing with our series, A Heart After God. I'm going to finish this series next Sunday unless the Lord leads or expands further. But I'm going to finish with a very important message next week.

This is the second to last message or the last aspect of this heart that God seeks for in individuals. He is seeking our world for certain men, certain women with a certain kind of heart. And over these past weeks and months, we've been dealing with this, a humble heart, a broken heart, dealing with all these aspects, a heart to know God.

We have thoroughly dealt with aspects concerning one kind of heart. This is part 11 and my message is a perfect heart. 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 9. Thou shalt have wars. Let's pray together. Father, we know right now, right across the world in every nation, every city, every church, to every individual, there is a searching of the Spirit of God.

You are looking for individuals whose heart is perfect before you. And if you can find an individual whose heart is perfect, whose heart is sincere, whose heart has integrity, whose heart has no agenda, no guile, no motivation that is wrong before you, a heart that is pure without blemish, a heart that is sincere in seeking after you, a heart that actually walks before you, a heart that fears you, a heart that seeks after your glory alone, nor God, a heart that is obedient before you.

If you can find such a heart, then you will show yourself strong and mighty and powerful. You're literally looking out, individuals with a perfect heart, that you can demonstrate your power in this generation.

Father, we plead the blood of Jesus, the merits of Calvary, the finished work of the cross. Work in us and sanctify us, nor God, I pray right now in this meeting, in this church, will you sanctify us, will you work mightily to bring forth a pure heart, to bring forth a right heart.

Oh God, I pray right now, demolish every excuse, nor God, demolish every complacency that we might pursue after a perfect heart before you. I pray for the power of God, nor God, demolish excuses, demolish casualness, nor God, demolish apathy, nor God, stir up a heart that longs, oh God, that groans, oh God, that cares more about how you look upon us than men around us, nor God, and even our own thoughts.

Lord God, bless us and bless your word. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen. My message, part 11, a perfect heart. It says here in 2 Chronicles 16 and verse 9, For the eyes of the Lord run to and through throughout the whole earth.

This statement about the eyes of the Lord speaks specifically about the person of the Holy Spirit. Where you read, the eyes of the Lord, it's talking about the eyes of the Lord are symbolic concerning the work of the Holy Spirit on the earth.

We know that God is in heaven, he reigns over the universe, but we know that there is a moving, searching in the entire earth, every single town and village. There isn't a village where the Holy Spirit isn't looking, searching, either for a child or an old man or some insignificant woman.

Do not think that a preacher and those in ministry or those teaching the church have a special place with God that the average believer does not have. That is not true. God is not looking for a great preacher.

In fact, I would go as far as to say the pulpit is filled with preachers who do not have this heart. God is looking for a certain kind of heart. And you know what? He'll bypass ministries, he'll bypass numbers, he'll bypass gifted teachers to find a person with such a heart.

And so it says the eyes of the Lord are running to and through throughout the whole earth. God is looking for a certain kind of heart. In fact, he is searching widely and diligently and thoroughly and constantly.

He is looking for a certain kind of heart. Can I ask you, do you have such a heart? I'm not asking, are you born again? I'm not saying, are you washed in the blood? I'm not asking that. I'm asking for far more of that.

You may be born again, saved by God's grace, and yet you have not allowed God to do a full work in your heart. And yet we have here that God is searching. What is he searching for? He wants to, look what it says in this first line, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him.

So God is searching everywhere. God is searching this church. God is searching Limerick City. And he is looking for this heart. One person with such a heart. A perfect heart. And if he can find such a heart, do you know what he says?

If I find such an individual, it could be a mother looking after her children. It could be a granny sitting at home. It could be someone that is confined to their home. It could be a child that doesn't even have an education.

And yet if he finds such a heart, do you know what he promises? If I can find a perfect heart, I will show myself strong. Listen carefully. The term here for God showing himself or revealing himself strong in the behalf of such a person.

Do you know what it means in the Hebrew? It means to seize that person. If he can find someone with a perfect heart, he will seize that person. He is searching for that man. He is searching for that woman.

If he finds them, he will lay a hold of them. He will grab them. The word means to bind himself to that person. It means that God will hold them fast. He won't let you go. It means he is going to show himself strong onto you.

That he is a great God, a strong God, a courageous God, a mighty God, a God who prevails. If he can find a perfect heart, he will prevail over every area of your life. And more than that, he will prevail over every area around you.

But we need to understand the Bible talks about a perfect heart time and time and time again. If you are of those that make excuses and say, no one is perfect. Or, well I just want to be born again. It doesn't matter if my heart is perfect or if my heart is sincere.

Then again, you don't know your Bible. You have a very childish, immature view of what the Bible says. Listen to what the Bible teaches. And you find this from cover to cover. The Bible teaches about a perfect heart.

What it looks like. What it is. And that every one of you from the oldest to the youngest should be seeking for a perfect heart. We read in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 9. That there are the generation of Noah.

Noah was a just man and perfect. We read that Noah who built the ark. Whose family escaped the judgment and wrath of God and a worldwide flood. The Bible says that Noah was a just man and perfect. He was a perfect man.

Don't minimize the term perfect. Old Testament. Before there was a covenant of grace. God had individuals who were perfect. God called them perfect in his generation. Noah was perfect. And listen, Noah walked with God.

And yet after the flood, we read of an incident of him getting drunk. Not many times, not perpetually. Once in his lifetime. Once and once only. And it was a blemish. And yet apart from that, it shows he wasn't sinlessly perfect.

But he was perfect in his generation. And he walked with God. Walking with God is the mark of the perfect heart. Or what about Genesis chapter 17 and verse 1. We read about Abraham who was 99 years old.

And when he was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him. I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. God was saying to Abraham after years of trials. Years of walking with God.

Years of being justified by faith. He comes to a point and God says, walk with me and be perfect. I want you to be perfect. I command you to be perfect. Do you realize God doesn't tolerate imperfection?

He doesn't excuse it and he doesn't understand it. There's got to be a search after perfection. Now what about Job chapter 1 and verse 1. It says there was a man in the land of Uz. Whose name was Job.

And that man, this is what God said about Job. That man was perfect and upright. And one that feared God and eschewed evil. Here's another man in his entire generation. He's marked out by God. God says this man is a perfect man.

Job's enemies did not think he was perfect. His friends and comforters did not think he was perfect. The devil did not think he was perfect. Neither did Job himself think he was perfect. And yet God speaking about this man calls him a perfect man.

He tells the devil that this man was a perfect man in the entire generation. And so we see that Job as a perfect man. Look at his life. He walks with God. He is upright. He fears God. He eschews or he runs from evil.

He deters around evil. If you don't fear God. If you don't shun sin. If you don't walk upright, you do not have a perfect heart. I'm talking about a certain kind of heart. And however you define that, you better make sure you have a biblical understanding.

I've got three points this morning concerning a perfect heart. Again, this is more than being born again. Thank God if you're washed in the blood. That's His grace and His love and His mercy. But I want to stretch you, challenge you, encourage you, exhort you to don't stay there.

Defining a Perfect Heart as Maturity and Integrity

But like those I've already mentioned, there was a walk with God that led them to a perfect heart. Number one, a perfect heart defined. Let me define what the word perfect means from the Bible. What do I mean by a perfect heart?

What does the Bible teach about a perfect heart? The word perfect used in the Old Testament and the New Testament carries the same meaning. What does it actually mean? Because individuals, we're told all through the Old Testament about certain men having a heart that was perfect.

What does it mean? It means to be complete or lacking nothing. A perfect heart is not a sinless heart. Because when you begin looking at it, you'll find David was called perfect. Noah was called perfect.

Job was called perfect. Abraham was called perfect. And many others were called perfect. And yet we find each of these individuals, there were failures along the way. There were issues of sin to be dealt with.

There were problems. And yet we're told they had a perfect heart. And so you need to understand, what does it mean to have a perfect heart? I'm not saying a person is sinlessly perfect. But yet I'm not bringing the word down to go, Oh, well, we're all sinners.

Do you know how many people I've met in the church and they have a very low view of walking with God? They say, should I walk with God? No, you're careless, you're disobedient, you don't fear God. You're not watching over your attitude.

Your heart is not perfect. No wonder God does not lay a hold of you and show himself mighty and strong and powerful. You say you're saved, but there's much more. There is a God searching the nations for a perfect heart.

What is a perfect heart? The Hebrew and Greek word means to be complete, lacking nothing. It means to attain or to reach onto a final destination. The word perfect means a goal that has been set by Scripture.

It is the objective. There is a limit or a boundary or the word used for horizon. In other words, to have a perfect heart, you see what is mature. You see what it is to grow. You see what it is to reach a horizon of what a heart is.

There is a goal, a destination, something that you're longing for. Are you satisfied in your walk? Are you actually going to sit here for the next 10 years and not have moved on? Do you honestly think that God is satisfied with that?

Are you satisfied with the Christianity that's slowly declining as you become apathetic and yet say, Oh, I know I'm going to heaven. I know I'm born again. Are you really satisfied with that? You see, a perfect heart has a goal, a destination.

It is longing for something. The word perfect means you've come to a place of maturity. In fact, in the Bible, this term maturity is speaking about adulthood compared to childhood. A child could be in the right place for being a child.

Praise God. But it's not mature. You would not give your children the keys to your car or the key to your house. You would not give them responsibility. You could not trust them or lean upon them, yet you're their child.

You want to raise up children to maturity. You have a destination. And you know what? It could take them 10 years or 5 years or several years. I hope the church is such a place where you know there's a place of maturity.

You're not at a place of maturity when you get saved. You've got to grow and mature and learn and understand and walk with God. This word perfect means to be entire, complete, lacking nothing, missing nothing.

Not ignorant of what it means to walk with God. Not deliberately ignorant by knowing it and yet not even seeking after it. Are you happy to know so much and yet not pursue after it? You've got a knowledge of the Bible.

You say, I know all the information. I can give you the answer. Do you walk in it? Are you satisfied where you are? Because God is searching, where are those with the perfect, mature, complete heart who I can begin to reveal myself to?

You know, you could be a child and have a mature heart, a perfect heart. I believe as a child, less than 10 years old, I had a perfect heart that drew the attention of God. The eyes of the Lord were searching all over and I believe the Lord came to me as a child.

There was a perfect heart. I did not have fullness of maturity physically or mentally, but I did in my heart. I was mature. I desired fellowship. I walked with God. I feared God. I shunned evil. You know, God dealt with me 8 years old in a way that often mature Christians, I don't see it in the church.

As a backslider that was meeting up with a girl on a high street to sin, I had more the fear of God than most people sitting in a church in our day and generation. There's something wrong. Do you realize sitting here could be a very dangerous environment?

Because you're not going out drunk, you're not blaspheming in the name of Jesus, and you become casual. Do you know what a perfect heart is? You are pursuing a place of maturity. This word perfectly means with your whole heart.

It means that you have an undivided heart. It's not a heart that is separated, seeking lots of different things, fitting your Christianity in, but you've got work and you've got family and you've got your interests and you've got YouTube and you've got Facebook and you've got lots of other things and you've got a thousand interests.

Oh yes, and I love God. That's not a perfect heart. A perfect heart is a united heart, a wholehearted heart set upon a particular goal and ambition where your heart is joined together saying, this is my goal, this is my ambition, everything else is submitted to this.

It is a heart that's undistracted, uncompromising, unpolluted, without blemish. To have a perfect heart means a sincere heart. It means you have integrity. I met people who were very serious about God, but they didn't have sincerity, they didn't have integrity, they didn't have transparency.

Do you know what a perfect heart is? Your heart is wide open. It is sincere. It is clear. There is no hidden agenda. You're not there manipulating. You're not there saying, how do I get things to work for my benefit?

You don't have a perfect heart. It is a sincere heart that is free from worldly ambition, free from sinister intention, free from hidden motives and agenda, no guile, no guile within the heart. The heart is perfect and the heart is clear.

Those called perfect in Scripture are not revealed as sinlessly perfect, but rather their hearts are sincere with genuine integrity. Do you see why God is searching for this? Do you know there's vast millions across our world that are born again, justified by faith, washed in the blood of the Lamb, saved because of the finished work of Calvary?

They have experienced what God has done for them. But where are those with a perfect heart who have no agenda? Their hearts are pure, without blemish, clean, seeking God. And so a perfect heart defined by the Bible, there are people who we read of, and we're going to look at here, who have a perfect heart, an undivided heart.

They have grown up and are mature. They could be an eight-year-old kid or an 80-year-old woman, and yet they have maturity with God. They're not making excuses. Listen to me. They're not pulling the Word of God down to their lousy expectation and definition of the Word.

How dare any Christian try to reinterpret the Gospel to say, oh, yes, I define it like this. Hey, we're all imperfect. You better be very careful. You know the entire Word of God calls you to maturity, to go onward, upward, to actually look higher, to not be satisfied, to be very dissatisfied, not dissatisfied with Christ, not dissatisfied with being born again, not dissatisfied with communion with Him, but dissatisfied saying, I don't want to stay here.

I know there's more. There's got to be more than this, more of experiencing God than ever I have, more of having a pure heart, a clean heart, an open heart, a heart that is absolutely open wide to God.

Don't you long for it this morning, a perfect heart, to have such a heart, not a sinless heart. I'm not asking, have you failed God? I'm not asking that. I'm not asking, are you sinlessly perfect? I'm asking here this morning, do you have a heart that is either declining, becoming casual, or a heart that is seeking after God?

So first of all, we see a perfect heart defined by Scripture. Second of all, the search for a perfect heart in the Old Testament. Do you know the entire Old Testament is a training manual, 4 ,000 years of God teaching you.

Old Testament Models of the Perfect Heart

When you go into the Old Testament and you read about kings and the nation of Israel, do you know God allowed that to happen over thousands of years? And we have the stories of the rise and the fall of kings to be a teaching manual for you.

When you go into the Old Testament, and I say this often, if I had the opportunity to write a book on leadership in the church, do you know where I'd write it from? I'd go into 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and I would actually produce a book on what a real leader in the church is from just those six books.

Those six books, if you understand them, you'll understand leadership in the church. You'll understand abusive ministry. You'll understand so many things happening worldwide. If you don't read those books and understand them and learn, you do not know what's going on in the church worldwide.

They hold many, many answers. And so when we look at a perfect heart, if you as the church are to understand the perfect heart, you need to go into the Old Testament. Look at the comparison. When you go to 1 and 2 Kings, it deals with all the kings of Judah and Israel.

Israel were the ten tribes in the north. Judah are the two tribes in the south. It's the divided kingdom. So 1 and 2 Kings deals with the kings in both kingdoms. But when you come to 1 and 2 Chronicles, it only deals with the kings of Judah.

There is a difference. In fact, 1 and 2 Chronicles goes much deeper in detail than Kings does. And Kings actually gives an overview of individuals from man's perspective. But when we come to Chronicles, we see these same kings from God's perspective.

And when you begin to look at what it says, what these six books say about a perfect heart, you begin to understand. And in fact, the entire Old Testament, not sinless perfection, but what a heart it is that God is searching for.

Not only for Job, for Abraham, Noah, Moses, but listen, for David, the king of Israel, who was the marker of a man with a perfect heart. We read in Deuteronomy 18 .13, Moses speaking to the entire nation of Israel because you know the call to be a perfect man or woman is given to the entire nation of Israel in the Old Testament and to the church in the New Testament.

All of you in this room are called to be perfect, to have a perfect heart. Do you hate hypocrisy in the church? Have you encountered that? Where you see a man preaching and doing great charity work, but he's a hypocrite.

He's laying burdens on you, but he does not believe this or live that. Don't you want something more? Are you satisfied in the church to encounter people who are hypocrites, duplicit, who lower the standard of the gospel?

Doesn't your heart say, surely there's more than this? In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 18, thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. Moses told the entire nation of Israel, thou shalt be. It's a command.

Thou shalt be is a vision. Thou shalt be was for every member of Israel. But listen to what he said about King David. In 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 38, all these men of war, the keep rank, came with the perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel.

And all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. This was a unique hour where Saul, King Saul was the king of the nation. Then his son become the king of the nation. There was corruption.

There was hypocrisy. There was deception. This is ministry that had leadership. They had titles. They were chosen by God. They had the anointing. They fought the enemies of God. But that leadership was not perfect before God.

God was actually desiring more. And here comes a young man called King David. He was a young man who God had chosen and had sought after. What does it say when men, soldiers, begin to gather to him? It says they came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king.

Many soldiers, many tribes, many men of war. And they came with a perfect heart. God's people having a perfect heart. Do you know this church can have a perfect heart? Do you know God's people can unify and come together with a perfect, sincere, genuine heart while all around them is a false gospel?

While all around them is division and compromise and hypocrisy in leadership, there can be a movement, a spiritual movement that actually unifies with the perfect heart to make David king over Israel.

It says that they were all of one heart to make David king. Oh, that we had a spiritual movement again that had a perfect heart. Church, we're looking for it. I am sick of the games of religion in the church.

God is actually searching, going, where is there a people? Where is there a church? Where is there a leadership? And I'll unite that people with one perfect heart. It says in 1 Chronicles 29 and 9, then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly.

I'm defining what a perfect heart is. The people offered willingly because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord and to David the king. They also rejoiced with great joy. In this verse it shows God's people again with a perfect heart offering willingly to the Lord.

They sacrifice to the Lord. They do it abundantly. They're not having to live in a certain way. See, as soon as you get the condition going, I ought to be a church. I have to do this. Do you realize how lacking your heart is?

God is actually looking for a people who say, I willingly do it. I desire this. Someone doesn't need to beg me to go to church or give to God or offer up sacrifices or to pursue Him with my whole heart.

If I have to beg you to do the basics of the Christian life, I most certainly know that I'm dealing with children at best. It's an act of immaturity because where you get a perfect heart, you are wholehearted.

You are unique in saying, my whole heart is pursuing after the living God. I seek Him with all my intensity. It says in 1 Chronicles 28 and 9, O thou, and this David, at the end of his days, speaking about Solomon, his son, who's about to become king.

And now Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart. David is saying to his son, serve God with a perfect heart. Solomon is a young man about to become king, about to serve in ministry.

What does David say? Son, serve the real God. Solomon, have a perfect heart. And with a willing mind for the Lord, searcheth all hearts and understandeth the imagination of the thoughts. You see, to have a perfect heart, God is searching your imagination, your thoughts, what's going on in your mind.

God isn't just looking at the outward. Oh, I've done this for God and I'm winning souls for God and I'm charitable for God. God is searching the heart. This is a perfect heart. What's your motive? What's your agenda?

What's your thoughts? And he goes further and saying, if thou seek Him, He'll be fond of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. It says in 1 Kings 8 -61, let your heart, therefore, be perfect with the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments as it is this day.

To have a perfect heart is a command. Since you may have justified not being perfect, you are not allowed in the Word of God to settle there saying, well, no one's perfect. There might be the odd person out there.

You are commanded to have a sincere heart, a perfect heart, a heart of sincerity and integrity, an open heart that's sincere and open. No hidden agenda. If you're there contriving, manipulating, working out, you know what your heart is lacking.

You need to deal with that. To have a perfect heart is a clear command to walk with God. Those who walk with God have a perfect heart towards God. In 1 Chronicles 29 and 19, and give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart.

Who gives a perfect heart? It is God Himself. You know, if you realize that your heart is transparent and it's open and God is searching it and you're there saying, search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way, you could be sincere and perfect in heart, and yet there's issues God needs to deal with.

As I said, you're not the finished product. You're going there. You're aiming there. There could be things that you're blind to or ignorant of, and yet you're mature at the place you are at. And so Scripture shows us that to have a perfect heart is to keep the commandments of God.

O God, in this church and those listening, will you grant us a perfect heart? It's of your grace and your love and your mercy if any one of us has such a heart because if God can find such a heart, He'll show Himself strong.

It says in 1 Kings 11 and 4,. For it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wife turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was, listen to this, not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of David his father.

King David had a perfect heart. King David had a heart after God. With all of these kings we're going to look at here, David was the standard. God always said, David had a perfect heart. Did David ever sin?

Did David ever fail? Was David sinlessly perfect? And yet the Bible says he was a perfect man with a perfect heart, a sincere heart, an open heart. I want to tell you, if you have failed God, it does not nullify having a perfect heart.

But if you're perpetually walking in a low level of obscurity, you know nothing about a perfect heart. You see, David sought to be mature. He didn't excuse anything and so he is always the standard. How sad that his son Solomon, who started well, who met with God, who walked with God, who had prayers prayed for him, oh give Solomon a heart that is perfect.

He was preached to have a perfect heart. He was taught on how to have a perfect heart. The God of the Bible was revealed to him and yet see as he grew and he got to his middle years and had been walking with God now for decades, we are told that women came into his life and he joined himself to those women and the Bible then says his heart was not perfect with the Lord, as was David.

Do you see how with all these kings, God is looking for a perfect heart? In 1 Kings chapter 15, we read about Abijam. Listen to what it says about him. And he walked in all of the sins of his father, which he had done before him and his heart was not perfect with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David, his father.

And so it begins to show you that a heart that walks in all the sins of all the individuals of compromised Christianity is an imperfect heart. It's not searching for God. It's not dissatisfied with where it was.

Or listen, 2 Kings chapter 20, concerning Hezekiah the king. You remember at the end of his days or near the end of his days, Hezekiah got ill and he was told that he's going to die from this illness.

Listen to what happens in verse 3. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight. Hezekiah, when it comes to the point where the Lord says, set your house in order.

You're about to die. Your days are numbered. You've come to the point of death. You're going to stand on my presence very shortly. Do you know what he begins to pray? Not everyone can pray like Hezekiah.

He said, you know that I've walked before you in truth. You know that, Lord. Imagine praying to God and saying, you know the secrets of men's hearts. You have searched me. I have walked perpetually in the truth.

I haven't departed. I haven't one day been walking in truth and the next day living out in error and heresy and deception. Oh, if Hezekiah can walk there, can you not walk in the truth? Are you not able to walk perpetually day to day in the truth of God?

You see, a perfect heart is a heart that walks before God, that walks in the truth. And he goes further defining this. And he says, and has done that which is good in thy sight. God, you know that I've done what's good in your sight.

You know that my heart has walked in truth. You know my heart is perfect. Can you imagine? He wasn't telling men or prophets or Israel, I'm a perfect man. Have you ever met someone? I've met them and they tried to tell me, I'm perfect.

I'm perfect. I met people who said, my wife's wrong. You're wrong. My mommy's wrong. My children are wrong, but I'm perfect. We actually had one encounter in this church where someone told us that and we said, are you serious?

You don't have any sense. No, you're never wrong. No. That is someone who is being honest in their own eyes, but certainly not from God's perspective. Do you realize you can have a heart where you think you're perfect and yet you're not.

You're trying to convince men. But you see, Hezekiah could say, I have a perfect heart. You know my heart's been sincere and real. Can you say that before God this morning? You know God that my heart's sincere.

I'm real. Not that I'm sinlessly perfect. Not that I've never failed. But my heart is absolutely genuine. I seek after you. Do you know in praying, the prophet of God Isaiah turns to him and God speaks to Isaiah and says, turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer.

I have seen thy tears. Behold, I'll heal thee. Do you know God wants to show Himself strong to the perfect heart. Then in 1 Kings 15, we have King Asa. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.

Asa was a king of Judah. And the Bible said, the Bible, the Holy Spirit says of Asa, his heart was perfect all his days before the Lord. To have a perfect heart is a heart perfect before God. Do you know what it means?

You're very conscious of how God looks at you. You're not so much interested in what man thinks or whether men like you or hate you. All you care about is, am I right before God? A lot of Christianity is built on outward observation, turning up on a Sunday morning, being there listening sermons, saying amen, and I believe this.

Yet it's not from the heart. You are not living your Christianity perfectly, sincerely, with transparency, overwhelmed. God's searching my heart. God sees my heart. I'm doing this for God. Do you know you could have two people live out their Christianity outwardly in the same church, in the same place, and they look the same.

But God looks at them differently because one does it with a certain, sincere, perfect heart. And so we see that Asa had a perfect heart all of his days. But then in 2 Chronicles 15, 17, it says, but the high places were not taken away from Israel.

Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. How can you be a king who doesn't remove the high places in the nation, and yet your heart is perfect? Do you know when you look at Asa, he hated idolatry.